S is for Samora: A Lexical Biography of Samora Machel and the Mozambican Dream

by Sarah Lefanu

Overview

Samora Machel led FRELIMO, the Mozambican Liberation Front, to victory against Portuguese colonialism in 1974, and the following year became independent Mozambique's first President. He died eleven years later in a mysterious plane crash. Drawing on stories, speeches, documents, and the memories of those who knew him, this biography presents the many different faces of the man Nelson Mandela called "a true African revolutionary." Machel was a trained nurse who became a consummate military strategist, a farmer's son with the diplomatic skills first to tread the tightrope between China and the Soviet Union and then to charm Margaret Thatcher, a man of the people who found himself utterly alone, a dedicated seeker of peace who never saw anything but war. The book examines the discourse of equality, liberty and comradeship that flourished during the 1960s and 1970s in the liberation struggles of the countries of southern Africa, in the face of the dominant rhetoric of the cold war. It meditates on the different languages through which the Mozambican dream was articulated: the linguistic currencies of anti-colonialism, of anti-racism, and of Marxism-Leninism, while exploring the gaps between then and now, between Mozambicans and the western idealists who wanted to be part of their new society, and between the polyglottal Mozambicans themselves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781849041942
Publisher:	Hurst
Publication date:	11/27/2012
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Sarah Lefanu is author of the acclaimed biography Rose Macaulay, and of MLA award-winning In the Chinks of the World Machine: Feminism and Science Fiction. From 2004 to 2009 she was Artistic Director of the Bath Literature Festival. She has been RLF Fellow at the University of Exeter, and teaches at the University of Bristol's Department for Lifelong Learning.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Acronyms

S is for Smaora: A Lexical Biography

Appendix 1: Facsimile of Appendix to 'Aircraft Acident Factual Report, January 1987'

Appendix 2: Samora Machel: The Last Ten Minutes by Carlos Cardoso, February 1987

Notes

Books Cited

What People are Saying About This

Susan Williams

S is for Samora offers a beautifully-written and fascinating insight into the recent history of Mozambique, following its independence from Portugal in 1975. At its centre is Samora Machel, the charismatic leader of FRELIMO, who died in a plane crash in 1986 that was blamed on apartheid South Africa; the cause of the crash is presented as an ongoing mystery through the book, with an intriguing examination of various theories. Lefanu's coverage of Samora is even-handed: he emerges as a gifted, good and charismatic man motivated by the principles of social justice and a form of nationalism that cut across colour, race and tribe. But she also portrays him as a human being, flawed at times by contradictions and failures. Alongside much factual evidence about Samora, Lefanu explores the mythology around his significance and legacy in Mozambique today and those of Josina, his freedom fighter wife before her untimely death. The structure of the book is highly original: in the form of a lexicon, from A-Z...it works surprisingly well: probably because the author's point of view is omni-present, connecting the different sections. A brilliant book that offers a fresh contribution to our understanding of postcolonial Mozambique and its southern African neighbours.

— Susan Williams, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London and author of, inter alia, Colour Bar (Penguin, 2006) and Who Killed Hammarskjöld? The UN, The Cold War and White Supremacy in Africa (Columbia University Press, forthcoming 2011)

Editorial Reviews

"Sarah LeFanu first visited Mozambique as a solidarity worker soon after its 1975 independence. Now, so many years later, she has returned to the subject. In a very personal way, S is for Samora combines what LeFanu sees today with the memory of what she experienced in the late seventies. Vivid and clear-eyed, it tells the exciting story of the 'Birth of a Nation'— a story that should be of interest to more than just those who have their own direct experience of Mozambique. Profoundly interesting and highly recommended."—Henning Mankell, bestselling author and Maputo resident

"This A to Z of Samora Machel, the first president of Mozambique, looks at first like an extended index but the device works brilliantly. Whether you want to read from beginning to end or dip in, it is packed with history and many new and fascinating details. It should become a classic and could start a new trend."—Richard Dowden, Director of the Royal African Society and author of Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles

"This is an arresting and original 'biography' of Samora Machel. The Mozambican leader emerges as a complicated human being, combining an uncanny ability to relate to people with an implacable commitment to the construction of a new Mozambique. Mixing journalism, diary and academic research, Le Fanu succeeds in offering one of the most wide-ranging accounts of Machel available to date. Under the guise of an a-to-z dictionary, the author offers a gripping insight into the personal and political mix, which made Machel the outstandingly successful leader he undoubtedly was."—Patrick Chabal, Professor of African History, King's College London

"A beautifully-written and fascinating insight into the recent history of Mozambique. LeFanu's coverage of Samora is even-handed: he emerges as a gifted, good and charismatic man motivated by the principles of social justice and a form of nationalism that cut across colour, race and tribe. But she also portrays him as a human being, flawed at times by contradictions and failures. LeFanu explores the mythology around his significance and legacy in Mozambique today and those of Josina, his freedom fighter wife before her untimely death. A brilliant book."—Susan Williams, author of Who Killed Hammarskjold? The UN, The Cold War and White Supremacy in Africa

"An important and readable rediscovery of Mozambique's revolutionary history."—Joseph Hanlon, author of Do bicycles equal development in Mozambique?

"S is for Samora demonstrates definitively [LeFanu's] seriousness and insight as both a researcher and a writer. A rich and inspiring narrative ... tells multiple stories: of a country coming to independence and liberation after Portuguese colonial rule; of revolutionary energy and activism being converted into established government; of the connections between activism, enfranchisement and freedom, resistance and dominance; of struggle and war in a world of vested interests and politics both visionary and tactical, bent and honest." — Huffington Post

"This is a fascinating book about Mozambique's recent history and transition from colony to republic, and the role of Samora Machel in that process, written from a unique, personal viewpoint by a former cooperante. [...] It is attractively, frankly, and engagingly written ... a genuinely innovative contribution to the literature on Mozambican history and society." — African Studies Bulletin

From the Publisher